"This Binding Constraints Analysis is part of the process of building a business case for private sector investment and public sector support for the media in Sierra Leone. Informed by the findings of the State of the Media report, this analysis is aimed at presenting an overview of the risks, chall
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enges, opportunities and benefits of investing in the media in Sierra Leone. The analysis is expected to serve as the main discussion paper for the National Media Viability and Investment Forum." (Introduction, page 1)
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"The project "Empowering young people in Africa through media and communication" aims to build media professionals' capacities, both men and women, in the treatment of information on various aspects of migration (irregular, legal, intra-regional, female, etc.), in order to guarantee public access to
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quality information on migration, and to enable local populations, especially young men and women, to take informed decisions on migration." (The project, page 4)
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"A travers le projet « Autonomiser les jeunes en Afrique à travers les médias et la communication », mis en oeuvre dans 8 pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre (Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinée-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria et Sénégal), l’UNESCO a, de septembre 2018 à septembr
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e 2022, oeuvré à l’amélioration de l’accès à l’information sur la migration afin de permettre aux jeunes de prendre des décisions éclairées sur la question. Les diverses interventions du projet ont porté notamment sur le renforcement des capacités des hommes et femmes professionnel(le)s des médias en matière de traitement de l’information, ou d’investigation journalistique, sur divers aspects de la migration, ainsi que la sensibilisation des jeunes, tant en ligne que hors ligne, sur l’importance du recours à l’information fiable sur la migration. Le projet s’est aussi attelé à analyser les pratiques et contenus des médias en rapport avec la migration afin de déceler des tendances, faiblesses et autres bonnes pratiques. Bien que le projet ait permis d’importantes réalisations en terme de production de contenus médiatiques (en français, anglais et en plus de 80 langues nationales) alliant qualité informationnelle, diversité des narratifs et représentation inclusive des voix (jeunes, femmes, hommes, etc.) de la migration, l’un des enjeux majeurs aujourd’hui est d’assurer la pérennisation de l’approche dans un contexte de montée de la désinformation relayée à travers les réseaux sociaux et aggravée par l’insuffisance de ressources dont les médias ont besoin pour assurer la production de contenus informationnels fiables et de qualité. Pour ce faire, il convient d’interroger, pour dégager des pistes d’action, les processus et les facteurs qui impactent la production médiatique, la construction des narratifs, les représentions des voix de la migration en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre. C’est à cette fin qu’a été organisée du 6 au 8 Septembre 2022 à Niamey la Conférence régionale : « Médias et voix de la migration en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre ». Les principales thématiques pour orienter les échanges pendant la Conférence régionale sont : « Enjeux et défis de la diversité des voix de la migration dans les médias »; « Médias et représentation de la migration et des personnes migrantes »; « Production de contenus éditoriaux sur la migration et facteurs d’influence »; « Importance de l’accès à l’information « complète » et de qualité sur la migration. » (Contexte et justification, page 4)
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"Este relatório fornece transcrições resumidas de consultas nacionais sobre a viabilidade da mídia com as partes interessadas no setor dos meios de comunicação. As consultas nacionais são baseadas nas trocas de conhecimento e pesquisas proporcionadas pela UNESCO e pela The Economist Intellige
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nce Unit (EIU) e visam explorar a viabilidade de possíveis soluções para preservar a viabilidade da mídia sem comprometer a independência editorial e a integridade do jornalismo. As consultas nacionais foram organizadas e resumidas pela Free Press Unlimited (FPU)." (Introdução)
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"The emergence of social media in the late 90s resulted in information dissemination and consumption transformation. Social networking sites have increasingly been popular and appealing to youths, who often spend much time navigating across the platforms, exploiting the communication affordances. Wh
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ereas social media eases the consumption of news and information, it nurtures the spread and consumption of fake news which tends to influence users' perceptions, particularly, those lacking the requisite literacy to guide safe consumption of fake news. Unfortunately, during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite efforts to enlighten people on the safety measures against the disease, the spread of misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic through social media platforms tends to undermine adherence to preventive measures advised by health experts and results in incautious behavior that can worsen, instead of flattening the curve on the COVID-19. This study, therefore, examines the students' consumption of COVID-19 related fake news on social media and the extent to which social media literacy moderates its effect on their perception of the disease. A survey design has been adopted, a convenience sampling was used where a questionnaire was formed on google form and distributed to the students of the two selected polytechnics through Facebook and WhatsApp. A total of 108 responses were generated; thus, descriptive and T-test analyses were run and the result revealed that the students possess the requisite literacy to identify fake news on social media platforms, and that has a significant on their perception of COVID-19, despite consumption of fake news related to the disease based on the T-test p = 0.05. Therefore, the result suggests that the effectiveness of media literacy as inoculant moderates the effect of fake news, as asserted by the inoculation theorists, it has no bearing on the long established stereotypical notion that certain diseases are conspiracies to reduce the population of the world." (Abstract)
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"Westafrika wird in Europa oft undifferenziert als Krisenregion wahrgenommen. Während fundierte Kenntnisse über die Geschichte und Gegenwart der dortigen Staaten vielfach fehlen, halten sich Stereotype über die Ursachen von Flucht und Migration in und aus Westafrika zäh. Der Soziologe Olaf Berna
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u beleuchtet die historischen und sozioökonomischen Wurzeln der Migration, die in den westafrikanischen Gesellschaften eine lange und positive Tradition aufweise. Diese habe sich durch die Erfahrungen der Sklaverei und der Kolonialzeit, durch Bürgerkrieg und Terrorismus, ökonomische Fehlentwicklungen der Globalisierung, unpassende Entwicklungsprogramme sowie durch den Klimawandel die migrantischen Traditionen Westafrikas und ihre Dynamiken verändert, was diesseits des Mittelmeers weithin nicht verstanden werde. Solange sich Europa gegenüber Westafrika einem fundierten Verständnis der komplexen Fluchtursachen verweigere, sei eine Beruhigung der Lage dort nicht zu erwarten." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This paper examines the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Nigerian journalists towards safety protocols especially within security and COVID-19 in Nigeria. The study adopted the survey methodology and relied on questionnaire as instrument of primary data collection. The population of the study
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was 305 journalists under the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abia and Ebonyi State. Sample size was 152 with 80 and 72 respondents chosen from Ebonyi and Abia State chapters respectively using Quota sampling technique. Data analysis utilized percentages, and tables. Findings show that 47.4% of the respondents have had threat of job loss from their employers while 80% consider job loss and threat to life as the most serious safety issues confronting Nigerian journalists. On safety training, 64.5% have no specific safety training; 57.9% of those who have safety training sponsored themselves, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), sponsored 42.1% while 97.4% believe that classroom safety training does not satisfy the needs of Nigerian Journalists. All the journalists take personal safety measures to protect themselves with 39.5% using self-censorship and 48% hiding their identities. All (100%) agreed that government was not doing enough to guarantee the safety of journalists in Nigeria. The paper recommends stricter enforcement of laws guaranteeing safety of journalists and greater emphasis on safety training by employers and journalism training institutions in Nigeria." (Abstract)
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"Press freedom is said to be a necessary pillar of democracy. As many sub-Saharan African nations move towards creating or strengthening democracies, examining their levels of press freedom may be an important element. This study utilizes public opinion data from 10 nations in the sub-Saharan Africa
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n region and international press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders to better understand both how important (or not) citizens view press freedom to be in their country and how those beliefs compare to global metrices between 2011 and 2018. Results show clear differences in citizen beliefs about press freedom across countries, but no clear relationship between citizen beliefs and global rankings. A connection between individual perceptions and global rankings may take more time to manifest, and/or a nation’s cultural values and political landscape likely have the strongest impact on citizen beliefs." (Abstract)
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"Journalists around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, media houses have had to make drastic adjustments to the impact of challenges wrought by the pandemic on their operations. Ghanaian media houses also faced similar challenges and disruptions. News reporters and
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journalists felt the impact of these disruptions with many Ghanaian journalists losing their jobs. This study used affective-emotive theoretical perspective to examine how the possibility of contracting COVID-19 could affect or trigger emotions of fear and anxiety among Ghanaian journalists. The study set two main objectives (1) what workplace safety policies and protocol guidelines were established in newsrooms to mitigate the spread of the virus and (2) to what extent did journalists fear for the safety and well-being of close family members because of their journalism work. The study conducted in-depth unstructured interviews with five journalists who had recovered from the COVID-19 infections. The study found that despite high degrees of fear and anxiety among respondents about on-assignments and workplace infections, respondents still maintained ‘emotional detachment’ to attain objectivity in news reporting. Respondents also expressed high degrees of fear of exposing family members to the virus." (Abstract)
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"This chapter examines the difficult conditions Nigerian journalists faced while reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the threats and dangers faced by Nigerian broadcast journalists and its implication for journalism practice amid a pandemic. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted
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nine in-depth interviews (online) with broadcast journalists in 2020 and employed thematic analysis to address the study’s findings. The study found that the safety threats encountered by journalists during the COVID-19 outbreak include the risk of contracting the virus, financial insecurity, and emotional trauma, among others. To combat these safety threats, journalists were responsible for their safety; hence, they ensured adherence to safety protocols with little or no support from the media houses they worked for. The implication of these safety threats to journalism practice includes reduced work output, reduced dissemination of factual reports, low-quality stories, and the lack of in-depth and investigative news reports during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria." (Abstract)
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"This study investigated the knowledge and practice of safety protocols among journalists serving as frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Structured questionnaire served as instrument for data collection. The popula
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tion of the study was all the one hundred and fifty-seven (157) registered journalists in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Stages of Change Model and Health Belief Model. Simple percentage, frequency table, bar chart, T-test and Pearson’s chi square tests were used to analyse the research questions whereas t-test and Pearson’s Chi square test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings show that whereas majority of the respondents had good knowledge of Coronavirus personal protective measures, they lack the technicalities and personal protective equipment required to serve as frontline health workers in a highly infectious pandemic situation such as Coronavirus. The study recommends special training for journalists who cover pandemics, particularly highly infectious ones of this nature to better equip them with the requisite skills for this genre of special assignment. Journalism training bodies and institutes could also consider the inclusion of pandemic reporting as part of specialised courses in journalism studies. Prioritsing vaccination of journalists who serve as frontline workers during pandemics is also strongly recommended." (Abstract)
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"All respondents had experienced online violence. Misogynistic hate speech, sexists’ comments, body shaming as well as slut shaming was common among the women journalists and WHRDs interviewed. These threats were also extended to their families, friends, relatives and networks. Another frequently
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mentioned attack was the attempted hacking into women’s email. Most of the women interviewed reduced their online activity and presence in response to online violence whereas others deactivated some of their online accounts. The story theme most often identified in association with increased attacks was gender, followed by politics and elections, human rights and social policy. Anonymous or unknown attackers are the most frequently noted source of attacks according to the women respondents. Facebook was mentioned as the least safe among social media platforms/apps used by women participants, with most of the respondents saying it was “very unsafe” compared to Twitter. Most of the women journalists did not report incidents of online violence to their employers or security personnel."
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